Open Theism Discussion Board
  HomeLog InRegisterSearch the ForumHelp
   
Open Theism Discussion Board > Public Forums > The raging debate continues here... > (No Subject)
 
Forum Quick Jump
 
New Topic Post Reply Printable Version
[ << Previous Thread | Next Thread >> | Show Newest Post First ]

Alan Rhoda
Registered Member




Date Joined May 2002
Total Posts : 680
 
   Posted 3/4/2007 1:55 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Hey folks, thought some of you might be interested in a paper of mine that just got accepted for publication in Religious Studies. Here's the link:

www.alanrhoda.net/papers/Generic%20Open%20Theism.pdf

Blessings,

Alan
Back to Top
 

a_theist
"Thy will be done."




Date Joined Dec 2002
Total Posts : 286
 
   Posted 3/4/2007 9:47 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
The link didn't work for me. sad


"In arguing with others, the aim is not so much to persuade them to think as one does oneself as to explore with them
the possibility of so thinking, in spite of more or less plausible objections."
~Charles Hartshorne

Back to Top
 

J.N.Darby
Registered Member




Date Joined Feb 2005
Total Posts : 124
 
   Posted 3/4/2007 2:24 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I had to go to www.alanrhoda.net , then click on "Generic Open Theism and Some Varieties Thereof"
Back to Top
 

Tom
Registered Member




Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353
 
   Posted 3/4/2007 5:37 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Didn't work for me either. The URL is correct, but for some reason it won't take you to Alan's site. You have to go there on your own.

Tom


 

Back to Top
 

Corey
Five with a Four-wing




Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1893
 
   Posted 3/4/2007 8:15 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
The link doesn't work due to a fluke (bad programming, really) of this site software; it doesn't like have the word "open" in the url.


 

Back to Top
 

Alan Rhoda
Registered Member




Date Joined May 2002
Total Posts : 680
 
   Posted 3/9/2007 10:38 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Hey guys, sorry about the link.

Anyway, I just posted a (slightly) updated version of the paper to the same URL.
Back to Top
 

Similitude
Registered Member


Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 4968
 
   Posted 3/24/2007 9:04 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I really like the discussion about causally-possible foreknowledge and the nature of "will" and "will not" statements with respect to time. It really explains why people have always had problems with absolute EDF.
 
But it also explains why many Christians begin to think there is no logical way to think about those attributes of God that seem virtually necessary  to them. This, in turn, causes them to think some truths aren't subject to the laws of logic. The process theists (or at least some of them), too, don't know how to conceive of God as being both perfectly benevolent AND perfectly omnipotent. So, to remain coherent, they can not conceive of the kind of power that we say God has.
 
In that sense, I don't see them as being any different than me. Until recently, I couldn't think of a way to conceive of perfect benevolence with perfect omnipotence (other open theists may have problems with conceiving of triunity). And I don't see why a philosopher would find much comfort in asserting both of these attributes if he/she can't conceive of both existing coherently.
 
Likewise, I still can not coherently account for how foreknowledge of all future contingencies can be eternal. This seems to entail the conscious apprehension of infinite contingencies in zero time. I don't know how any activity can occur in zero time any more than I can conceive of a circle with zero diameter. And I don't know how apprehension can be anything other than activity of some kind.
 
Thus, for now, I am content to believe as a minority of open theists believe--that God can know anything knowable if He chooses to. In this sense, it is analogous to omnipotence; God can do anything He can be motivated to do. But this will have to suffice for me until I can conceive of how eternal foreknowledge of all future contingencies can be logically conceivable.
 
In short, a philosopher can be doing legitimate analysis and still not see how it is possible for all the traditional perfections to exist in God. So I would consider some process theists as true open theists so long as 1) they are honestly trying to determine the attributes of God with all the intellectual means available to them and 2) they hold to the other claims of minimal open theism.


 

Back to Top
 
New Topic Post Reply Printable Version
   
Forum Information
Currently it is Monday, November 09, 2026 11:54 AM (GMT -6)
There are a total of 97,718 posts in 6,040 threads.
In the last 3 days there were 0 new threads and 0 reply posts. View Active Threads